Author Keith Farnish has a problem with Western Civilization. So do I. I mean, Mozart is all well and good, but destroying the planet through industrialism and growth isn't quite worth civilization's accomplishments. Or is extinction a small price to pay for our glorious expansion? The downsides are hard-wired to the dominant culture.

Even if sustainability were not a critical issue, for anyone to have to pay to live on Earth is a ridiculous notion for a society to undertake. But this is our brilliant system, whereby people are conditioned to compete and buy into their own slavery.
Abandoning nature in order to have to buy pieces of it as commodities is inefficiency and waste of the tallest order. Modern man is demonstrably stupid to rely on unnecessary slavery, whereas any animal smart enough to survive in the wild cannot be stupid and is no kind of slave.

One form of human enslavement is to tolerate massive pollution, such as the sum of greenhouse gas output from the technological giants China and the U.S. One can surmise that those of us who sit by and do not lift a finger lack a "survival gene" in our evolutionarily strange times.

Keith asked me, in the spirit of co-liberation for humanity and the species we have enslaved, to furnish a chapter to his upcoming book Underminers: A Practical Guide for Radical Change. Upon reading the introduction he wrote, I'm in support of the project. Here's what he got from me in early October of this year:

The World After Industrial Civilization Goes

Usher in the "new" economics of local self-sufficiency and community cooperation

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hungerÂ
A brotherhood of man*
Â - Imagine, John Lennon

*Lest any feminists be offended by the quaintness of the last line, it is worth recalling that Lennon was soon to unleash "Woman is the Nigger of the World."

I like to think that critics of civilization are above all compassionate, nonviolent and realistic. Â So perhaps we can keep in mind that wishing for quick change to save the planet and throw off the shackles of capitalism and authoritarianism has to be weighed with today's vast dependence on industry. Â Yes,Â the economy will collapse and end most greenhouse gas emissions. But this is not to say everything will be just fine as soon as manufacturing and oil-powered transport stop. There will be severe repercussions to "lifelines" of energy, food and materials being cut or terminated.Â

As industrial civilization is built on exploiting nonrenewable "resources" (many of which should never have been tapped), and human population and consumption of manufactured materials are near peak, the unsustainability of unlimited industrialism should be obvious.

Whether the unsustainability is obvious or not, collapse can be sudden and rapid, as the house-of-cards economy built on cheap, ample petroleum can have the rug pulled out from under it by any break in the chain. Then the infrastructure fails once and for all, beginning the final rusting of the machinery of civilization on all levels.

One can say today, while we still enjoy vast quantities of food shipped great distances, "That's fine, the Earth needs a break." Â But population die-off has two versions: simple starvation that can be overcome after petrocollapse, or species extinction due to weakening of the gene pool and assaults from nuclear events, disease, and climate destabilization.

If we have simple starvation, and can survive the other assaults, then we can paint a picture of the world after industrial civilization that has a viable human presence. Â I am optimistic about it. Â A new culture borrowing heavily on traditional ways of various indigenous cultures, with some helpful influences from recent visionaries, will emerge from the rubble of petrocivilization. Â The breakdown of the previous global corporate culture and lack of cheap, fast travel will assure a larger world of innumerable autonomous bioregional nations and tribes. Â

Individually the end of industrial civilization and massive government means being free from jobs, i.e., working for others for their purposes to earn money to buy essentials that nature actually provides freely. Â This is unthinkable by many today, but they tend to distrust the masses' thinking for themselves and managing with self-rule and voluntary cooperation.

Along with rejecting the obvious failures and mistakes of the previous era of growth and "progress," the new culture will have to find harmony with nature. Â This cannot be done with the hierarchal, patriarchal, religious empire-building mindset that ravaged the planet starting with perhaps Sumer. Â Therefore the new culture will feature equality, justice, mutual aid, and will refrain from building surpluses for grandiose schemes of expansion or greed. Â

As to nuts & bolts, or the lack of them, I wrote in January of 2007 in Culture Change Letter #150, "one can visualize local crafts-people soon making due with scrap materials and some renewable resources. The individual's possessions will not be so voluminous and overbearing when the change comes. There will no longer be a great number of things used daily, because new stuff won't be available and cheaply shipped to everyone the way it once was. So, re-using finally becomes the rule of the day." Â

However, maximizing bicycles and bike-trailers may be a transition phenomenon that lasts only a century at best. Â This may not be so terrible: as we become less material oriented we become more spiritual. Â It can be argued that nature and spirit are really one. Â If a "primitive" and simple life for all sounds objectionable, tough shit. Â The question is "what is really ahead?", not what we feel we are entitled to as modern homo "sapiens." Â As part of the swing of the pendulum, spirituality identified with the Earth will return strongly, as people revere life in part by deploring the past era's trashing of the living world.

As certain regions will be damaged for centuries by past practices and the distortions of climate change, they cannot provide every essential food or material for sustaining the lives or happiness of the tribe or nation, if isolated. Â So trade will be perhaps essential. Â Without cheap oil, and in the absence of renewable fuels such as biofuels that still depend on mechanical systems involving high entropy, the low-tech, efficient mode of sailing will return to the fore. Â Already it is making itself attractive in a cost sense as the corporate global economy continues to pollute the atmosphere with disastrous bunker fuel and routine oil spills out of view of the news media and public consciousness.

People in temperate and arctic climes can live without coffee, chocolate, and other delicacies now shipped thousands of miles to addicts and bon vivants. Â But people prefer not to be deprived: if something can be done, it will be done. Â Additionally, a favorable environment here for producing olives, for example, can result in a reasonable surplus to trade for some grain from over there. Â Specialization is a questionable reliance, but sharing and assisting other communities will be carried out between peoples who, since the Great Collapse, will be evolving their bioregions into very diverse, unique cultures. Â The loss of languages and cultures will be remedied over time. Â Sailing will keep up the right level of communication, knowledge, and mutual aid, for the new reduced population size.

That's if we can survive the undoing of civilization and its toxic and radioactive consequences.

We can hope it will be as peaceful as you portray. All you suggest is possible. I would like to share the first two paragraphs of my essay on the coming new middle ages: We will go kicking and screaming down the path to the new Middle Ages as fossil fuels desert us. With the decline of available energy, those of most of us who have sat at the top of the energy pyramid will become the new peasants. With the popular view of the Middle Ages as a brutal and dirty time filled with famine and disease and at the mercy of armed overlords. We cringe at the thought.

With great sadness, we must recognize the direct connection between present day population levels and the use of fossil fuels in food production, medical procedures, medicines and hygiene. With the fall in fossil fuel availability there will be a reduction in population. Population soared with the industrial revolution and the development of industrial, fossil fuel based agriculture. It cannot be sustained. From: The New Middle Ages http://sunweber.blogspot.com/2011/05/new-middle-ages.html

There are so many illogical and ill thought out arguments in this article it is unbelievable. I'll highlight JUST one:

"One can say today, while we still enjoy vast quantities of food shipped great distances, "That's fine, the Earth needs a break." But population die-off has two versions: simple starvation that can be overcome after petrocollapse, or species extinction due to weakening of the gene pool and assaults from nuclear events, disease, and climate destabilization. "

What? Assuming that your hypothesis of "simple starvation" happens (which wouldn't be simple or peaceful), you say you are optimistic of the results. What if it was YOUR entire family that starved to death? Or are you thinking in a western mindset and assuming it will be the third world that dies off, leaving the west to "get in touch with nature, man."

I'm not sure if you created these arguments as you went along, or if you seriously think that humanity will forgo progress to assume some spiritual ideology you hold to be superior. There are societies that currently exist that you would fit right in, so instead of publishing poorly constructed articles about progress on the internet (dissing progress on your Mac Book Pro?), why don't you move to an environment better suited to your worldly beliefs? You do realize your proposed policies are half-baked, and anyone with an education understands how ludicrous this article is, right?

You are dumb daftones. Plain and simple. There is no "argument". He is saying it is math. This amount of petrol equals this amount of population. Its very easy. Goodbye Petrol= Goodbye petrol dependent monkey-men. And as far as what you deem "progress" (ie starvation at an all time high, nuclear fallout worldwide, a 4th major extinction etc etc etc)it seems there is no arguing that that is just about through. Better get over it buddy.

Reading this article, among others on the subject around the net, as well as their respective range of responses, I'm continuously reminded of Jupiter's Great Red Spot, which, apparently, is a giant and relatively-permanent storm that forever rages... It makes me think of our species as Earth's biological red spot, raging forever on survival's knife's edge, never quite disappearing, yet blasting everything within itself and around it... as it wipes out more peaceful, intelligent, and/or mature mutations of us... what can mutually beneficially coexist and integrate with nature, like the honey bees or mycellium...

I try not to think of humans in this way, and used to feel fairly optimistic at my core, but that core's optimism seems to be eroding, like the death-of-a-thousand-cuts, and soils and environments worldwide, as I continue to witness the dust-devils that increase in size and frequency.

"Therefore the new culture will feature equality, justice, mutual aid, and will refrain from building surpluses for grandiose schemes of expansion or greed."

This will never happen, look at history - people repeat same mistakes and never learn. After the oil civilization, there will be another similar civilization using other resources and so on...Until the Earth becomes inhabitable for humans and finally cleanses itself from us...

The opposite of consumption is not frugality: it is generosity. The more people realize that their future depends on their generosity to it, rather than their extraction of it, who knows what might happen. Peaceful starvation? Not a chance. Revolutionary thoughts? Always possible. The chaotic nature of herd interactions is unpredictable, though. Will people who believe in capitalism (which we don't have: we have consumerism) think that they need to find another solution, or will they decide that they didn't believe HARD enough and do more of the same? That is the question that rides the knife edge between peace and war, love and hate. Evil acts are those taken based on unquestioned beliefs. Articles like this aren't meant to decide how the future will go or what people will do, but to keep them from acting in evil ways by asking them to question what they believe is really going on.

EGOCREANET (NGO no for profit ) would participate to the HORIZON Calls in Science with and for society 2015 for investing in creativity to advance in a RESPONSIBLE RESEARCH AND INNOVATION in our epoch of socio-economic collapse of Industrial society.

Hence the QUASSI (QUANTUM ART,SCIENCE &SOCIETY for responsible INNOVATION ), project would identifies the most salient interrelated factors which will be able to be a catalyst creative action to stop the emergent civilization decline determined by ethnic discrimination unfair competition, oppression of the poor , and which may help to avoid the the risk of premature collapse favoring a deep conceptual change able to grow up the future knowledge society (1)

The above may be possible by favoring a deep conceptual change in a way that the thinking process would become more adequate to the Growth of population, Climate changes control, Fresh Water conservation , Nutrition-Agriculture development and Alternative energy employ for a non polluted environment.

These factors if they are not included in a responsible orientation of science and technology, can lead to an accelerate collapse when they converge with an associated persistence of obsolete mechanical -concepts that was crucial in the growth of the old industrial society and in agreement with a social- darwinism based on an irresponsible competition that splits over the limit of rupture the divergences between the socio-economic stratification into a very few rich -elite and a very large poor masses .

The Project QUASSI on the basis of the extension of a trans-disciplinary extension of advanced Quantum science to the science of life ( Biology, neurology, nutrition ... ) would play a central role in advancing in a responsible changing in the process of the premature scenario of an irreversible collapse of the industrial society , looking to help European research reorganization to become more adequate to the Growth of population, Climate changes control, Fresh Water conservation , Nutrition-Agriculture development and Alternative energy employ for a non polluted environment.

I hope in your conscious cooperation to develop and disseminate to find partners and stakeholders for improving the QUASSI PROJECT and the Quantum Creativity Community. see : https://www.facebook.com/

see : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degeneration; Degeneration theory was a widely influential concept in the social and biological sciences in the nineteenth century and attempted to find explanations for social change in physical or biological systems. . As the nineteenth century progressed, the increased belief in degeneration reflected an anxious pessimism about the future of European and Western civilization.